Tom Maciejewski

for Berkeley Heights

Has the Berkeley Heights Democrat Ever Paid Property Taxes?

August 4, 2016

While I believe that all people should be somewhat involved in their town government, I feel that it is difficult for someone who has never had to pay property taxes or market value rent to understand the feeling of writing that check.

When I was having my first child I commanded: "push", she turned to me and yelled to me to shut the <expletive> up. The pain of childbirth can only be understood by someone who has gone through it. Similarly, only someone who has written that property tax check can really understand the amount of work that goes into what is being taken by the town.

I personally feel that someone who has never had to write a property tax check or has had to pay a market priced rent ( which would have that tax passed through ), is NOT qualified to make the decisions on how the town spends their money. They have nothing to lose on fivilous projects or bad contracts. It is easy to spend other peoples money.

Would anyone feel comfortable allowing someone who has no skin in the game, to spend our money, to make the decisions that could result in an elderly person moving out of their house or a family to choose to move to another town or out of state because they couldnt pay the out of control property taxes? What if it was someone who has never paid these taxes ever themselves yet was participating in tax increases, wouldn't we basically want to tell them to "Shut the <expletive> up"?

This is NOT the year to vote straight line. I have given my reasons for NOT voting Republican straight line but here my reason for NOT voting Democrat straight line: he just is not qualified because he has not had to feel the pain that the rest of us had. He has sat in on town council meetings for years, even ran a few other times, and yet I have not been able to find even one time where he stood up to the council to question the wasteful spending they have been doing. I have only seen him ask for things that would require more spending from your pocket, not his.

I am the only one that is running that will take a close look at every dollar spent, and make sure that it is spent wisely. I will make sure that money is not spent on pet projects. I will make sure that contracts have clear deliverables. I will make sure bond ordinances are worded more specifically so that political games cant be played to move allocated funds around. I will make sure that contracts and zoning changes that are made will be done in the towns best interest.

Please vote for Edmund Tom Maciejewski - Libertarian ... I will not be in the Republican or Democrat column so please dont vote straight line. I am a Libertarian and the only fiscal conservative on the Ballot. Vote: Edmund Tom Maciejewski for Berkeley Heights Town Council on Nov 8th, 2016